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Top 30 Hugh Mackay Quotes (2025 Update)

Hugh Mackay Quote: “Nothing is perfect. Life is messy. Relationships are complex. Outcomes are uncertain. People are irrational.”

1. “Nothing is perfect. Life is messy. Relationships are complex. Outcomes are uncertain. People are irrational.”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “No one welcomes chaos, but why crave stability and predictability?”

2. “No one welcomes chaos, but why crave stability and predictability?”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “It’s Australian to do such things because, however uncivilised they may seem, it’s human to do them.”

3. “It’s Australian to do such things because, however uncivilised they may seem, it’s human to do them.”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “I suspect the secret of personal attraction is locked up in our unique imperfections, flaws and frailties.”

4. “I suspect the secret of personal attraction is locked up in our unique imperfections, flaws and frailties.”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “Actually, I can’t imagine anything more tedious than a perfect person, especially if it was someone who also demanded perfection from me.”

5. “Actually, I can’t imagine anything more tedious than a perfect person, especially if it was someone who also demanded perfection from me.”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “The thing we need most is each other.”

6. “The thing we need most is each other.”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “So, if falling crime rates coincide with the rise of violent video games and increasing violence on TV and at the cinema, should we conclude that media violence is causing the drop in crime rates?”

7. “So, if falling crime rates coincide with the rise of violent video games and increasing violence on TV and at the cinema, should we conclude that media violence is causing the drop in crime rates?”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “To listen to someone means devoting time to the process, putting your own concerns on hold, remaining silent even when you’re dying to say something. Patient listening also involves a willingness to postpone judgement about what is being said. Mostly, we want to rush in to agree, to disagree, to object, to correct; but listening demands the patience to let all that wait until the other person has finished saying to us what they want to say to us.”

8. “To listen to someone means devoting time to the process, putting your own concerns on hold, remaining silent even when you’re dying to say something. Patient listening also involves a willingness to postpone judgement about what is being said. Mostly, we want to rush in to agree, to disagree, to object, to correct; but listening demands the patience to let all that wait until the other person has finished saying to us what they want to say to us.”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “It is the misfortune of contemporary leaders, across the whole spectrum of Australian life, that the community’s demand for strong leadership is growing in direct proportion to our lack of confidence in ourselves. The end of this century is an unusually difficult time to be a leader in Australia.”

9. “It is the misfortune of contemporary leaders, across the whole spectrum of Australian life, that the community’s demand for strong leadership is growing in direct proportion to our lack of confidence in ourselves. The end of this century is an unusually difficult time to be a leader in Australia.”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “Universal literacy was a 20th-century goal. Before then, reading and writing were skills largely confined to a small, highly educated class of professional people.”

10. “Universal literacy was a 20th-century goal. Before then, reading and writing were skills largely confined to a small, highly educated class of professional people.”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “Some researchers sensibly suggest that rather than worrying too much about which programs our children are watching, we should concentrate on trying to reduce the total amount of time they spend in front of the screen.”

11. “Some researchers sensibly suggest that rather than worrying too much about which programs our children are watching, we should concentrate on trying to reduce the total amount of time they spend in front of the screen.”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “The copycat effects of media violence, similar to those previously attributed to westerns, radio serials and comic books, are easy to exaggerate.”

12. “The copycat effects of media violence, similar to those previously attributed to westerns, radio serials and comic books, are easy to exaggerate.”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “There’s no such thing as a boring subject, only a bored listener who hasn’t bothered to search for the relevance of the message to them.”

13. “There’s no such thing as a boring subject, only a bored listener who hasn’t bothered to search for the relevance of the message to them.”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “One reason we resist making deliberate choices is that choice equals change and most of us, feeling the world is unpredictable enough, try to minimise the trauma of change in our personal lives.”

14. “One reason we resist making deliberate choices is that choice equals change and most of us, feeling the world is unpredictable enough, try to minimise the trauma of change in our personal lives.”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “Reading is a huge effort for many people, a bore for others, and, believe it or not, many people prefer watching TV.”

15. “Reading is a huge effort for many people, a bore for others, and, believe it or not, many people prefer watching TV.”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “Polls are no substitute for leadership because, at its very essence, leadership is about giving people what they don’t already have – a sense of vision, inspiration, or even an adequate grasp of a particular subject.”

16. “Polls are no substitute for leadership because, at its very essence, leadership is about giving people what they don’t already have – a sense of vision, inspiration, or even an adequate grasp of a particular subject.”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “Although we love the idea of choice – our culture almost worships it – we seek refuge in the familiar and the comfortable.”

17. “Although we love the idea of choice – our culture almost worships it – we seek refuge in the familiar and the comfortable.”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “Parents should be encouraged to read to their children, and teachers should be equipped with all available techniques for teaching literacy, so the varying needs and capacities of individual kids can be taken into account.”

18. “Parents should be encouraged to read to their children, and teachers should be equipped with all available techniques for teaching literacy, so the varying needs and capacities of individual kids can be taken into account.”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “Obviously, every child should be given the best possible opportunity to acquire literacy skills.”

19. “Obviously, every child should be given the best possible opportunity to acquire literacy skills.”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “Indeed, in the present climate of mistrust of institutions, many people who yearn for a more meaningful and fulfilling life would regard the church as an unlikely place to go for guidance.”

20. “Indeed, in the present climate of mistrust of institutions, many people who yearn for a more meaningful and fulfilling life would regard the church as an unlikely place to go for guidance.”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “Still, most of those effects occur in the context of harmless play and it is patently obvious that children are not normally turned into aggressive little monsters by TV or video games, since most children do not become aggressive little monsters.”

21. “Still, most of those effects occur in the context of harmless play and it is patently obvious that children are not normally turned into aggressive little monsters by TV or video games, since most children do not become aggressive little monsters.”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “With increasing frequency and growing vehemence, you hear people saying they are ashamed to be Australians.”

22. “With increasing frequency and growing vehemence, you hear people saying they are ashamed to be Australians.”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “On average, Australians watch more than three hours of television a day, compared with 12 minutes a day spent by the average couple talking to each other.”

23. “On average, Australians watch more than three hours of television a day, compared with 12 minutes a day spent by the average couple talking to each other.”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “It seems inevitable that the magic of the written word will fade.”

24. “It seems inevitable that the magic of the written word will fade.”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “But the rule seems to be that the bigger and more life-changing the decision, the less it will seem like a decision at all.”

25. “But the rule seems to be that the bigger and more life-changing the decision, the less it will seem like a decision at all.”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “Is it possible that literacy standards are falling because young Australians are growing up in a culture in which they can be entertained and informed, and in which they can communicate effectively, without having to master any but the most rudimentary literacy skills?”

26. “Is it possible that literacy standards are falling because young Australians are growing up in a culture in which they can be entertained and informed, and in which they can communicate effectively, without having to master any but the most rudimentary literacy skills?”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “A strangely reflective, even melancholy day. Is that because, unlike our cousins in the northern hemisphere, Easter is not associated with the energy and vitality of spring but with the more subdued spirit of autumn.”

27. “A strangely reflective, even melancholy day. Is that because, unlike our cousins in the northern hemisphere, Easter is not associated with the energy and vitality of spring but with the more subdued spirit of autumn.”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “You have five hundred Facebook ‘friends’? That simply means you’ve redefined ‘friend’ to make it something like ‘a contact I exchange data with’.”

28. “You have five hundred Facebook ‘friends’? That simply means you’ve redefined ‘friend’ to make it something like ‘a contact I exchange data with’.”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “But many researchers operate as if it is their responsibility to demonstrate that video violence has a direct effect on the behaviour of young children, because that will help to explain why society is becoming more violent.”

29. “But many researchers operate as if it is their responsibility to demonstrate that video violence has a direct effect on the behaviour of young children, because that will help to explain why society is becoming more violent.”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “Yet in our enthusiasm for the idea that everyone should be able to read and write fluently, we may be missing a crucial point: in today’s culture, finely honed literacy skills are simply not as important as they once were.”

30. “Yet in our enthusiasm for the idea that everyone should be able to read and write fluently, we may be missing a crucial point: in today’s culture, finely honed literacy skills are simply not as important as they once were.”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “The truth is that we will learn nothing from our sadness, our suffering, our disappointments or our failures unless we give ourselves time to experience them to the full, reflect on them, learn from them or, in modern parlance, process them.”

31. “The truth is that we will learn nothing from our sadness, our suffering, our disappointments or our failures unless we give ourselves time to experience them to the full, reflect on them, learn from them or, in modern parlance, process them.”

— Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay Quote: “Forgiveness calls on deep reserves of moral courage: the courage to break out of the spiral of self-pity; the courage to set aside resentment; the courage to rise above biterness; the courage to act well, when all our instincts call on us to act badly. p112.”

32. “Forgiveness calls on deep reserves of moral courage: the courage to break out of the spiral of self-pity; the courage to set aside resentment; the courage to rise above biterness; the courage to act well, when all our instincts call on us to act badly. p112.”

— Hugh Mackay

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